Blog

Philosophy and Life

Recent writing and occasional thoughts on assorted matters.

The Jordan Peterson effectMar 19, 2018-Rupert Shedrake and I have published the latest in our Science Set Free podcasts, discussing the new generation of celebrity gurus and popular intellectuals. The clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, the historian Yuval Noah Harari and the comedian Russell Brand are three prominent examples. They command podcast downloads that run into six figures, their books are at the top of amazon …

Civilisations and the undiscovered selfMar 5, 2018-A piece written for The Idler, featuring the ideas of Carl Jung, who is the central figure in part 6 of An Introduction to Psychotherapy, released this week. A flurry of public intellectuals are currently promoting their version of our Big Story. They've been appearing on screens and in bookstores. Steven Pinker crossed the Atlantic to inform us that the …

The psychodynamics of BrexitMar 2, 2018-A piece written for The Idler to coincide with the release of part 5 of An Introduction to Psychotherapy. What is going on with Brexit? Some try to disentangle the issues. Only, the truth is that they're issues tied up in a Gordian knot. So, instead, how about some psychology? It offers an alternative approach to the confusion, with the …

Donald Winnicott and the need to be idleFeb 20, 2018-A thought on the gaps in life, coinciding with the release of part 4 of the Introduction to Psychotherapy course with the Idler Academy, focusing on the work of Donald Winnicott. The British psychotherapist, Donald Winnicott, became a prominent public intellectual after the Second World War. He spoke on the radio about how to raise children, coining a phrase that …

What to make of the Old TestamentFeb 18, 2018-Rupert Shedrake and I have published the latest in our Science Set Free podcasts, discussing what Christians know as the Old Testament. The psalmist sings that God knew us before we were born. The book of Joshua says God ordered that everything with breath should be destroyed in the land of Canaan. The writer of Genesis affirms that God said …

A Valentine’s Day card from John BowlbyFeb 14, 2018-A message for the 14th February, coinciding with the release of part 3 of the Introduction to Psychotherapy course with the Idler Academy, focusing on the work of John Bowlby. It's Valentine's Day. It's time to think about love. But rather than getting romantic, which nowadays is mostly a capitalist ploy to separate you from your cash and burn up …

The importance of Melanie KleinFeb 6, 2018-The second part of An Introduction to Psychotherapy with The Idler Academy is released today. It focuses on Melanie Klein, about whom a few thoughts here... Melanie Klein could be the most important psychotherapist you’ve never heard of. She is the key figure in the second part of our Introduction to Psychotherapy course, released this week. Born in Vienna, in …

Sigmund Freud uncoveredJan 30, 2018-I've a new online course at The Idler Academy, an introduction to psychotherapy. The first part, on Sigmund Freud, is released today. And here are a few thoughts... Freud is, today, widely misunderstood. Maybe that’s the inevitable fate of an investigator of the mind whose brilliantly colourful terms – “retentiveness”, “death wish”, “penis envy”, “slips” - broke free of his …

Rediscovering Plato’s VisionJan 19, 2018-This piece was published by Philosophy Now. It’s a frustrating time to be a fan of Plato. Public intellectuals routinely misrepresent him, and it’s hard to find courses that can unveil the richness of insight and meaning which the best thinkers of twenty-three centuries, from Plotinus to Iris Murdoch, have discerned in his dialogues. Take one common misapprehension, that Plato …

How to be a Vedantic ChristianJan 7, 2018-Rupert Shedrake and I have published the latest in our Science Set Free podcasts, discussing syncretism - what it is to drawn on, say, the Buddha and Christ, or the teachings of the Gita and those of a Sufi adept like Ibn 'Arabi. It's a reflection of living in a plural age, in which many are open to more than …